Anne H. Murphy

Anne Virginia Higgins was born on May 19, 1923 in Utica, New York, to William and Dorothy Higgins. She was the youngest of three children, who were raised in Utica but spent many of their summers vacationing at Henderson Harbor, New York, and on Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire. Anne was a very athletic child, active in field hockey, golf, and skeet shooting. Her oldest sibling, Margaret (Peggy), married Robert Graney and settled in Mount Holly, New Jersey. Anne became godmother and remained quite close throughout her life to Peggy and Bob’s oldest child, Anne Graney (Moore). The middle child, David, enlisted as a combat engineer during World War II and was killed in action in Germany in 1945.

Anne attended Manhattanville College of the Sacred Heart, but then transferred to the Flower and Fifth Avenue Hospitals School of Nursing in New York City, where she completed her training to become a registered nurse. Having a strong interest in nursing education, she enrolled in Catholic University of America, in Washington, D.C., where she received a Bachelor’s of Science degree in nursing education.

From August 1949 to June 1951, she served in the Army Nurse Corps as a Second Lieutenant. During this time, she attended a Catholic University function in New York City, where she met her future husband, John (Jack) Joseph Murphy, of Holyoke Massachusetts. Anne and Jack’s sister, also named Anne, shared a close friendship throughout their lives. In June 1951, Anne left active military service and became a nursing supervisor at Springfield Hospital in Springfield, Massachusetts.

In April 1952, Anne became engaged to Jack, who graduated from Catholic University in June of that year. The two were married on September 13, 1952, in West Springfield, Massachusetts. They relocated to New Haven, Connecticut so that Jack could pursue his doctorate in economics at Yale University. While living in New Haven, Anne gave birth to two daughters, Teresa and Anne. Teresa would eventually receive a Ph.D. in statistics, marry Andrew Pavia, and settle in Salt Lake City. Daughter Anne married Edward Kobus and pursued several diverse and interesting professions before becoming a nurse herself; she and Ed settled in Silver Spring, Maryland.

In 1958, Anne and Jack moved to Rockville, Maryland, so that Jack could begin his lifelong career as an economics professor at Catholic University. Anne gave birth to two further children, Christine and Sean. Christine would eventually become a doctor, marry Kelly Nolan, and settle in Niskayuna, New York. Sean would eventually become a law professor, marry Julie Abbot, and settle in McLean, Virginia. Anne’s four children, in turn, would produce eleven grandchildren.

Anne and Jack moved from Rockville to Bethesda, Maryland in 1967, where they lived until Jack’s death in 2003. During that time, Anne progressively moved from providing full-time care for her children and the running of a household, to serving as a volunteer docent guide at what is now known as the Smithsonian Museum of American History, to returning full-time to her nursing career. She served as the school nurse at Landon School in Bethesda, Maryland, and then as a school nurse for Montgomery County, operating out of Walt Whitman High School.

Anne loved to travel and, after the children were grown, began taking trips around the United States, visiting often with her children and grandchildren. She also began traveling abroad, including trips to China, France, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, Spain, The Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. During a trip to Germany with her son, Anne visited the location just outside of Linnich, Germany, where her brother died.

After Jack died in 2003, Anne sold their house in Bethesda and moved to an apartment in The Jefferson in Arlington, Virginia. Anne found many new friends and was active in events at The Jefferson, especially enjoying attending history lectures, going to movies, tending to planters on the terrace, and making outings to parks and the theater.

In the final year of her life, Anne suffered a hip fracture and a stroke, but continued to be fully engaged with her friends at the Jefferson, and enthusiastic about chair-aerobics and exercises in the swimming pool. On September 24, 2012, she suffered in her apartment a sudden stroke from which she did not regain consciousness, and passed in her sleep on September 28.

Anne will be memorialized during a Mass at Saint Charles Borromeo Catholic Church, 3304 Washington Boulevard, Arlington, Virginia, 22201, on Saturday, October 13, at 10 a.m. There will also be a celebration of Anne’s life on the second floor of The Jefferson, 900 North Taylor Street, Arlington, Virginia, 22203, on Saturday, October 13 at 11:15 a.m. Her ashes will be interred at Arlington National Cemetery alongside Jack at a ceremony to be scheduled during the spring of 2013.

Those wishing to make a donation in honor of Anne Murphy are welcome to do so with the Women’s Memorial Foundation, which honors American servicewomen for their service and achievements in the U.S. Armed Forces. Donations may be made by mail to Women's Memorial Foundation, Dept. 560, Washington, DC 20042-0560 or on-line at http://www.womensmemorial.org/Donate/donate.html.